Tiger Sharks and Aloha

[chimchim]

I've been doing a few dives in West Oahu for the convenience when I visit relatives.

Now, I know there's tiger sharks who live around there and have been spotted in Makaha, etc. They're are "aggressive" and have attacked surfers... but I'm guessing not because of "aggressiveness" but because they mistake the board silhouette and appendages as an animal like a seal. I know humans are not their natural food source. I know chances of dying in a car crash is much much higher than getting killed by a shark.

So there seems to be two camps of divers: those who are just simply afraid and want to avoid them, even though the risk is minimal (kinda like just plain avoiding bungy jumping or skydiving); and those who don't think they present a significant enough of a threat to warrant no going scuba diving.

In fact, those dive charters go every day of the week and haven't been attacked.

So what are the reports of tiger sharks attacking SCUBA divers? And is it different in Hawaii, where maybe the sealife is more accustom to seeing divers?

 

[onfloat]

I have been diving on west Oahu for the last year and have yet to even have an encounter with one. Many white tip reef sharks, but no tigers. I bring my video camera with me hoping to catch some on film. I have not heard of any divers being attacked by any.

 

[robbcayman]

Being a diver I wouldn't worry about it. Now, if you're surfing in that area I would worry about it.

 

[Cacia]

Kewalo basin, off Waikiki probably has more and they are not a menace to the daily commercial dive operations putting divers in the water on a daily basis.

The attack on the west side recently was on a freediver spearing fish, I think.

When a Tiger is spotted on the west side, people out there seem to talk about it more and longer, in my experience! "Fish lore" is a popular pastime on the west end and sometimes I have to remind them that "I heard that one LAST year!".

 

[Knockneed Man]

Virgin post! (So stoked to have found this forum)

I lived on Maui for a year and spent nearly every day under water, both working for a scuba company and diving / free-diving on our own, any day we werent under water with work. Out of more than 200 dives I have done in Hawaii that year, and on trips since, I only saw one tiger, and it was free diving.

Despite scientists now saying tigers are not territorial and that they cruise everywhere, Hawaiian locals still say there are tigers that live or at least frequent several spots. On Maui, supposedly one lived off of Kamaole 2, and that you could expect to see them off of Kaupo and the brackish waters off of Hana. Of course, they could be anywhere, but these were supposed hot spots. Kaupo also supposedly has a lot of hammerheads as well.

The tiger I saw was off a pennisula near Makena. I was snorkeling in a shallow area, hovering above two spotted eagle rays when I followed them off a drop off into 30ft waters. Thats when I felt a "bump" on the tips of my fins. I started to spin around, thinking my buddy was behind me trying to get my attention, but when I got half way around, I saw my buddy about 20ft away, eyes as big as saucers, pointing behind me. I turned around to see an 11ft tiger, cruising slow, not really swimming, and luckily he kept on going. I walked on water back to the sea kayaks.

I've heard that tigers dont like bubble noise and are pretty rare to see while on scuba, but watch out free diving. As I dove more and more there, I really learned to keep looking into out into the blue water for sharks, mantas, etc... thats where you see them, as most pelagics tend to stay just out of vis range. But, keep your eyes peeled to the blue, and its amazing what you'll see.